James Bedell McKean Quotes
Federal Authority against Polygamic Theocracy.
Describes the contest between President Ulysses S. Grant and the Mormons over the issue of polygamy in the 1860s
James Bedell McKean, 1821-1879, Utah Supreme Court Justice, Quoted in Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
“Celestial Marriage” is the term then used be Mormons to describe plural marriage.
Congress had passed the Edmunds Act prohibiting plural marriage. Taylor, who himself had 7 wives and 35 children, went “underground” and secretly operated the church from exile.
The secular government and the equal rights of women which transformed Turkey into a modern state under Ataturk had its roots with others in addition to Attaturk, Riza was the one who lead the parliament. Despite the Koran and Islamic tradition, polygamy was later abolished in Turkey—the first Islamic state to have done so since the founding of the religion.
In 2005 Rose published a number of cartoons some of which depicted the Muslim Prophet, Muhammad which offended many fundamentalist Muslims who had a tradition who had a tradition of never depicting the visage of the Prophet. A delegation of clerics demanded an apology from Rose and the country of Denmark, claiming that they and Islam, like other religions, were entitled to respect.
Responding to criticisms by Rev. Jerry Falwell about America's moral decline: See also, Mark Russell
Federal officials and commissioners issued laws, directives and orders that were very unpopular with the Mormons who were in the overwhelming majority of the Utah territory. The Mormon “government” was a type of theocracy but a very popular one. The Mormons tried to test the constitutionality and legality of the Federal laws and orders before they would obey. The government position was that they should obey and then could test the laws in the courts. The Mormons eventually lost in the courts anyway, but the principle of obedience to law until it can be tested and reversed has generally been the rule of U. S. Law. However, civil disobedience in which many religions have engaged in our history argues the obverse. Eventually Taylor had to go “underground” and rule the church from exile in which state he died.
The 100,000 Mormons in the Utah Territory rebelled at the hostile Federal officials coming into Utah to run things without the consent of the citizens of the territory. It was a cry for the territorial version of States’ Rights.
The major issue was whether Congress and the Federal Government could make laws and regulate the communities of people who had settled in the new territories. The argument that Young made was that unless a power was specifically enumerated in the Constitution as being granted to the Federal Government it was not. Most Constitutional scholars believe that there were powers implied by the enumerated powers such as the right for the Federal Government to regulate child labor or the safety of nuclear power plants which of course were never mentioned in the Constitution. At the same time anti Mormon sentiment led many to extend Federal Regulation to Mormons that had not been extended to other people/ Plural marriage was one of those major value issues. The Mormons were very innovative in setting up institutions like buying cooperatives and systems for medical care and welfare, and many of these threatened the then established economic principles of many men of power and wealth. See {614870} for John Taylor’s similar view.
What was particularly unusual about this quote was that Cronkite had always been so circumspect about his own political views and opinions and rarely expressed personal criticism of any group or movement. When he was the national anchor for CBS News, he was so non partisan that he became the “most trusted man in America.” By 2007 however, most of the radical religious right had organized a serious movement which unlike other self interest groups which wanted to expand their rights or benefits, much of the radical religious right strove to curtail the rights of other Americans who differed from them as to religious interpretation, concepts and role of government, sound family structure and relationships, gender equality, sex, and personal freedom.
